


i remember you...

by ZippyZapmeister



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Angst, F/F, Octo Expansion Spoilers, POV Second Person, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-23 22:18:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14942378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZippyZapmeister/pseuds/ZippyZapmeister
Summary: They told me you had gone to ground,And your rad groove was concrete proofThat you had made it safe and sound.





	i remember you...

**Author's Note:**

> The mem cake tidbit for Marina seemed to loosely imply that Agent 8 knew Marina personally from her days in the Octarian army...so here's this :D
> 
> I don't recommend reading if you haven't completed the Octo Expansion. This will be slightly confusing as well as spoiler-y.

_They told me you had gone to ground,_

_And your rad groove was concrete proof_

_That you had made it safe and sound._

* * *

The memories come flooding back to you when you saw Marina’s dossier.

 

The memories were a mix of good and bad. Good because you remembered laying your head in Marina’s lap as she sang you to sleep in the infirmary, and you remembered the way her face lit up when she got a new piece of tech working, and you remembered being the only one to wipe her tears away when she cried, and you remembered the way your heart raced when you realized you were in love.

 

But when the memories were bad, they were so, so, bad.

 

Bad because you remembered the hollow look in her eyes when one of your own had died. Bad because you remembered a bomb prototype fizzling in her face and your squad sergeant yelling at her because she hadn’t done well enough.

 

Bad because you remembered her leaving you for a better world.

* * *

“ _That was quite the blow you just took, Eight. Are you alright?_ ”

 

You shuffled into a corner, away from the dull glare of an Octosniper. Your armor couldn’t recover quick enough. “Yes, I’m fine.”

 

" _Oh..._ ” Marina almost sounded disappointed. You cleared your throat. “ _Sorry! That didn’t come out right. It’s just...I would have loved for you to ask for my help, or something. You’ve been barreling through these tests like they’re nothing. I can make it done for you in a jiffy if you’re struggling...I’m a little bored, to be honest_.”

 

Another memory: Marina, working tirelessly on tech designs, and wiggling her fingers in the air when she didn’t have a wrench in her hand. A genius like her was bound to get bored. “You talking helps me a lot,” you said. Most of her hints were rather obvious to you, but you wouldn’t say. She gasped a little in your ear. “I’m not sure if talking to me relieves your boredom, though-”

 

“ _No, no! That-that sounds great! I don’t want to talk your ear off, or anything...but Pearlie went out for a snack, and I think Cap is sleeping. I hope you don’t mind if I stick around for a chat._ ”

 

A chat? You had been expecting her to guide you along the test a bit more closely, but when you thought about it, you realized that you knew very little about Marina other than the fact that she had left the Octarian army and became a superstar. There were so many gaps that you wanted to fill. Then again, you were a stranger to her, a blurred dot in the stain of her past life. You couldn’t get too personal, even if that’s what you would have done back before she left.

 

“I don’t mind at all. So, have you been building anything new lately?”

* * *

“Hey. Do you think I could have my own motorcycle up there?”

 

“You do have your own.”

 

“It’s an Octarian motorcycle. I’m wearing Octarian clothes. I don’t have any possessions.” There was a slightly cynical tone to her voice. Or, was it just the parroting of the possessive Octarian maxims?

 

You hated talking about the surface, and Marina used to, too, avoiding any bits of hope so that she wouldn’t disappoint herself. However, she had been acting strange for the past few weeks. She had been humming some tune under her breath, staring off into the sky (or what sub-dwellers called the sky), and even disobeying orders. You chalked it up to her new promotion. After all, she was only sixteen, no matter how intelligent. Was she overwhelmed?

 

“It’s assigned to you,” you said, trying to comfort her. That was your goal, always. Comforting Marina, making sure she was okay, sometimes even sucking up a little bit in the hopes that she felt the same way–

 

“Yeah, but...I can’t just hop on it whenever I want and take off. I can only use it on the job. Gosh...I bet on the surface, they have...they just have long, long lines of roads. Not all high-tech and fancy like the ones down here,” Marina said. She wasn’t really talking to you anymore. She was talking to whatever God she could think of and nudging them to grant her wish. “Long stretches of dirt and grass. And you can just _ride,_ on and on. Imagine us, riding on one of those motorcycles together. It’ll be us, just riding forever.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Marina heard your tone and stopped talking, instead looking at her feet and zoning out. You looked at her face, and through the thick veil of depression, you saw a bit of determination.

 

You were starting to get scared.

* * *

You plop into one of the bus seats after lugging your third thang to the station. Your body was sore from your efforts in the tests, but carrying that large hunk of metal only made things worse. At least you had something to look forward to: the CQ-80 chat logs. You read them regularly, trying to get every scrap of Marina that you could, so there was only one new log. That was enough for you.

 

**MC.Princess: My name’s Cap’n Cuttle! My age ain’t subtle! I’m sittin’ with my cane on the mother-f@$*in shuttle!!!**

 

**MC.Princess: Marina rate my rhyme**

 

**CraigCuttlefish: zero**

 

**MC.Princess: I said MARINA not lame old guy with no bars**

 

**MC.Princess: MARINAAAAAA WHERE ARE YOUUU**

 

**MC.Princess: It says she’s online what the heck**

 

**DJ_Hyperfresh: I’m here.**

 

**MC.Princess: Is my rhyme good**

**  
****  
** **DJ_Hyperfresh: What rhyme?**

 

**MC.Princess: Omg scroll up**

 

**DJ_Hyperfresh: K.**

 

**MC.Princess: ...sooooo**

 

**MC.Princess: OK Marina it was 3 sentences why is it taking you twenty minutes**

 

**DJ_Hyperfresh: I’m a little distracted.**

 

**MC.Princess: U OK?**

 

**DJ_Hyperfresh: It’s Agent 8. It’s a little embarrassing, so I’ll keep this chat log hidden, but...I feel a connection with her. And she looks familiar to me.**

 

**CraigCuttlefish: well octolings kind of look the same**

 

**MC.Princess: Dude**

 

**DJ_Hyperfresh: ...Gonna pretend I didn’t read that.**

 

**DJ_Hyperfresh: I don’t know. It’s troubling. I’ll think it over again. Maybe I’m just making it up. Talk to you guys later.**

 

**MC.Princess: :( Rate my rhyme first please**

 

**DJ_Hyperfresh: 3**

 

You deactivated your CQ-80 for the moment, staring at the roof of the train. So, Marina had sent you the log on accident. You didn’t like invading her privacy, but you had learned something important.

 

She remembered.

* * *

You were a field agent, while Marina worked behind the scenes, so you were surprised to see her with an injury for once. “I got a little messy in the lab,” she said, raising her hand. It had a nasty burn on it, presumably from some new Octo-tech gone awry. “But, at least I’m not in the infirmary for no reason, this time.”

 

She had a habit of coming into the infirmary to check on you. You were a good agent, but reckless, which prohibited you from being promoted within the ranks as fast as Marina did. It also got you a fair share of battle wounds that armor weeped at. You laid down on the bed she was sitting on, placing your head in her lap. You closed your eyes. You didn’t need to speak, because she knew what to do.

 

She sang.

 

But, that time, she sang something different. Something unlike her gentle lullabies. It was more upbeat, more inspiring. More powerful. Her voice was shaking.

 

“What’s this?” You asked. You were sleepy and high from the medication you had been given for pain, so you weren’t sure you felt her tears dripping onto your cheek until you _felt_ them.

 

“Everything’s changed.”

* * *

“ _Hey...Eight? I know you don’t have a lot of memories, and this is a little obscure, but...do you remember your squad number?_ ”

 

There it was. The sign that she remembered you, or was at least beginning to. It was small, but it was a sign. You were once again in the middle of a test, “alone” with Marina. Unfortunately... “No, I don’t. Sorry.”

 

“ _Okay, okay. That’s fine._ ” She laughed nervously. You didn’t remember your squad number but you remembered tiny things like that about Marina. You remembered that a laugh like that meant she wanted to keep talking but didn’t know what to say. So you waited, letting her figure it out. Finally, she spoke. “ _I just feel like I know you from somewhere...were you maybe in 93-A? I know you said you don’t remember, but maybe hearing it will help._ ”

 

You shut your eyes as you reached a checkpoint, calming your heart rate and trying to remember. The plaque above the door of your bunker...it read...93-A, didn’t it? It was so blurry. Then, it all started coming back. Standing in line for drills and barking your squad name and ID number back to the sergeant in front of you, running to the battlefield when 93-A was summoned. “Wait, I think it was...”

 

“ _Oh my cod. I think that’s where I know you from! Yeah, yeah! Same squad_ ,” she said, excitedly.

 

“I remember you, too.” You were feeling excited, too. You were ready to pass every test thrown at you so you could make your way up to the surface and be with her again, pick up where you left off, forge that bond...

 

And then, she said it.

 

“ _S_ _uch a shame I don’t remember much more than your face. It’s been so long, y’know? We’re going to get you to the surface, Eight, and you’ll be leaving your Octarian memories behind, too._ ”

 

No.

 

You were wrong.

 

She didn’t remember.

* * *

The lights had gone out, but Marina was walking around the bunker with purpose, packing up all of her things. You watched, too afraid to whisper again. You couldn’t run the risk of one of the other soldiers waking up. Still, you chanced it. “Marina, this is a mistake,” you said. Your eyes were puffy, with tears spilling from your lids. “You’re going to risk the position you worked for, risk your _life,_ all because of some song? You’re crazy.”

 

“ _You’re_ crazy,” she snapped back, far too loud. She calmed herself down when one of your roommates rolled over. Then, she continued. “You’re crazy if you think I can...stay down here. I can’t. I can’t do it any longer. I can’t stay here. Don’t you realize what the Octarians have done to us? It’s not that we don’t have any physical possessions. We don’t even have souls anymore! But that song...the Squid Sisters...they gave me mine back.” She was frustrating you. She was putting pretty pictures in your head of the surface world and peace and love and happiness and all of the other things that you couldn’t have. Why couldn’t she see that? “I wish you could hear it...maybe one day...but until then, you can come with me. Please.”

 

“If you want to be with me, then you’ll stay.” A desperate plea, one that was _so_ unfair, but you couldn’t help it. You needed her, even if you had to prey on her sensitive side to keep her. “Marina...Marina, I love you.”

 

“I know,” she said. She swung her bag over her shoulder. She was so radiant, so gorgeous, and for once, happy. She smiled. She _smiled._ Could it really be that that song was so powerful? “And I love you too. One day you’ll see, okay? You’ll hear their song, and you’ll understand. You’ll come to Inkopolis, and I’ll get that motorcycle, and we’ll take off. It’ll be...the best. S-so don’t tell anyone you saw me, so that we can be together.”

 

She was choking up. She was faltering. She was having second thoughts. You tried to reach out to her, but before you could, she was running off into the night.

 

The next morning, when you were told she had gone AWOL, you fainted even though you already knew.

* * *

Ah. No wonder she didn’t remember.

 

The blade of the helicopter cut through the air like disappointment was cutting through your heart. You watched Marina tackle Pearl to the floor of the heli and hold her close, smooching every patch of cheek she could find. She was so happy. She was so happy, without you.

 

Perhaps that was why you didn’t want her to leave Octo Valley. Because you knew that she would find someone better, someone that was pushing her ahead and not pulling her back.

 

Pearl.

 

You felt the thick, dark grime of Octo Valley creep back up into your veins. That was what she had wanted to escape, right? She had heard that song and broke free from the shackles of despair, and so had you, but there was a feeling that jealousy gave you that was all too similar to what the Octarian army gave you: bitterness.

 

The heli flew to Inkopolis, and as soon as you got off, Marina turned to you, her hand on your shoulder. _Sing to me again,_ your heart cried. _Sing to me, just one more time...just for me._ “You’re going to love it up here, Eight,” she said. “The best thing I did was escaping Octarian rule. Did you have a motorcycle assigned to you down there?” You felt your heart breaking. You wanted to hear her, but you didn’t, because she was killing you, _she was killing you._ “Up here, they have long, long lines of roads. Not all high-tech and fancy like the ones down there. Long stretches of dirt and grass. And you can just _ride,_ on and on.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah! Me and Pearl do it all the time...”


End file.
